Virika of the DragonFolk
by Thais of the Star
Summary: Virika's life changes forever when she Impresses Hayatch, a gold of Ted Tubberman's dragonfolk. When some of the dragonpeople are taken captive, to she and her sister Vyrania there is truly is no choice between duty to blood or to love.
1. Prologue Chapter

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story. (Only Ted Tubberman and his wife, Wind Blossom and Kitty Ping were created by Anne McCaffery, and as they don't show up much I'll just say this on this chapter)

Chapter One: _Prologue Chapter_

When the first colonists came to Pern, they found the little native creatures called fire lizards. Later, they were altered slightly, creating a slightly larger, slightly smarter version with five fingered 'hands'. After the first Threadfall from the Red Star, they were altered still more to create the first clutch of dragons by Kit Ping Yung, Kitty Ping. Wind Blossom created another type of dragon; the ugly watch-whers. But what if one other person had created a third kind of dragon, one that would survive in secret in the jungles of the Southern Continent?

Ted Tubberman was experimenting with bioengineering creatures; he made the felines of Southern. But, unknown to anyone else, even his wife, he used Kitty Ping's techniques to create a dragon-human race.

These people were small, but very similar to both dragon and human from which they had been made. When they hatched, they appeared to be nearly like dragons. As soon as his one successful clutch stood, the difference was apparent to Ted. They had human-like bodies though with only a dragon's organs, a dragon's six limbs, arms, legs, wings and long tails like the dragons. His tampering had given them feet like a dragon's; they stood forward on their toes. They had hair, a variation on their color. Because of their human characteristics they were unable to transfer _between_.

They kept the traditional colors of the fire lizards, gold, bronze, brown, blue and green, but this was only a pale replica- blues never went darker than a dark turquoise, browns were only the lightest chocolate colors or paler, and greens rarely strayed deeper than the green of earths' palm tree leaves.

Unlike the dragons, they never took to the program of getting progressively larger as the generations went on. Neither did they range so dramatically in size; a green's human-like, clawed hand was no smaller than a queen's. Even so, only the bronzes still flew queens, while all males flew the greens. Unlike other variations on the species of fire lizard, they were altered to have a speech of their own as well as telepathy.

Ted Tubberman had tried to alter them so they would only Impress to him, giving him total control over them. Instead, they were far too dragon-like to be Impressed by him once they felt his greed, though had he presented others they likely would have imprinted.

He gave them great intelligence, as of humans, though with draconic instincts. When he tried to use the dragon-humans as work animals, they rebelled. It was they, not the felines, who broke out, but as they inadvertently unleashed the felines when they escaped, the felines left their marks in the wreckage.

He had then in captivity two queens, two bronzes and a blue. These five escaped and hid in the jungles, growing in numbers as the years passed.

No one besides Ted Tubberman, not even his wife, ever knew of the dragon-people. When the colonists left for the Northern Continent, the dragon-people stayed. As the years went by, they remained undiscovered.

000

The hot Southern sun beat down on a clutch of eggs hardening on the sands of a cove. Smiling, the queen lay next to the eleven tan, sand-covered ovals on a large rock slab, warm in the sun. A pale bronze gazed down at them proudly from his seat on a higher portion of the rock. He extended one wing and covered his mate protectively.

"Eleven, Kilatch. And a golden daughter." A human from Earth may have had some slight difficulty understanding the accented speech of the dragon people, but Kilatch had none.

"Our kind needs more golden daughters, not just sons," she fretted, looking up into the bronze's eyes. "Satch, we cannot long continue. There are so few of us, and we queens are not laying as many eggs." Satch bowed his head, and his wings fell limply at his sides.

Both knew that from the original two queens and two bronzes their race had come, had its glorious years and faded. Now there were five queens, guarded carefully by their mates and the two as-yet bachelor bronzes. The thirteen greens, dozen blues and nine browns did their best to help those who would continue their race, but it was just not enough. There was no way, without other dragon folk, to broaden the gene pool, and renew the species. The breeding dragons did their share, by trying to stay away from those they had already had a clutch with, but still it was not enough.

Suddenly Kilatch sat up, staring at the eggs. "Satch, we queens need to be agile in the air. If we ate less, perhaps we could fly farther. There would be more eggs, maybe more golden daughter!"

Satch stared at his mate. "Yes… there would be…" His words trailed off. "But how could you keep from gorging just before a flight? You know what it's like." He smiled at her.

"You bronzes would have to assist us. If we only drank, not ate, it would be much easier to maneuver, and fly farther and faster. The longer the flight, the larger the clutch!" She was so excited that she stood up and leapt sky ward, beating her large wings as she darted in circles over her clutch and mate. "We must try," she pleaded, though Satch still looked doubtful.

"All right. The next mating flight, we'll test your theory; I'll tell the other bronzes." Satch sighed. His Kilatch had such wild ideas, but that was one of the reasons he loved her. Standing, Satch closed his eyes and gave each bronze the conversation he had just had with his queen.

"Both Cameratch and Igatch should rise soon," said Kilatch hopefully, before settling down and taking her watch over her clutch again. Satch looked on, a worried expression on his face.

000

In fact, it was Bakitatch who rose first, four sevendays later. It seemed likely that more than half the queens would rise that year, for Camoratch and Igatch were close to rising also.

Kilatch woke to hear a scream, and twisted to look where it had come from. With sudden vigor Balitatch straightened up to her full height and lifted her wings. Balitatch screeched and flung herself skyward.

A golden blur was all the eight bronze dragon people saw as she dove on the small herd of runnerbeasts nearby. Savagely, the normally gentle queen tore into her food. "Try to only let her drink the blood?" cried one of the golds, and dove at the other queen.

Locking minds with her sister she was joined by the other queens and the bronzes. Together they forced the lustful dragon-lady to drink only the blood of the runnerbeast, though it took every bit of their combined strength. With a cry Balitatch flung herself with animal like greed on a fleeing runner, and was again made to drink only the blood. Her golden sisters fought to keep her in control over the third. Finally Vamitch grabbed her arms.

Balitatch screamed and flung herself on her aunt, clawing her viciously once, and leapt skyward. The other queens rushed to their wounded comrade's side, and attempted to stop the green ichors' flow. Caught up in the queen's flight the bronzes only chased after Balitatch.

Varnitch would survive, though, to never make the mistake of holding on to another queen in the heat of flight.

After the flight the only good to come of it immediately was a far, long, active and high flight.


	2. First Meeting of Two Worlds

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Two: _First Meeting of Two Worlds_

A tan-gold runnerbeast plodded steadily over the sandy ground while his rider kept her eyes down on the sands, searching for fire lizard nests. Several day's ride behind her she knew that she had escaped the smelly but necessary job of boiling numbweed. Their three ships had landed at this piece of Southern two days before. It was a good spot to find the smelly plant, and it flourished so far from any settlement.

The young woman tried to keep her mind on the clutches, but something kept distracting her- the new clutch of eggs at the Weyr.

A grin brightened Virika's face as she recalled what her mother had said: "My own mother was a gold rider, and my father was her queen's bronze's rider. Your grandmother, my father's mother, was a queen rider also, and my sister is now a green rider and my brother is a brown rider at Benden itself! Rider blood is in out family, so when your old enough and any Weyr Searches, you are very likely to be chosen. So keep your hopes up."

Yes, there was Weyr blood in her family, so she had a good chance of being Searched and of Impressing either a queen or, now that girl were allowed to ride the smallest of the dragons as well as the biggest, a green. She had once Impressed a fire lizard, though he had been caught by a wherry some weeks back That must count as _some_thing!

She sighed. Fire lizards were fine. But to Impress a dragon, to fight Thread, to ride one of the mighty defenders of the world- to, perhaps, even become a Weyrwoman…

But she was a sensible young woman, and knew quite well that there were older and more experienced queenriders out in Pern who had a better chance of becoming Weyrwomen.

Still… she could always imagine and hope.

It was nearly sunse. She cut off her daydreaming and laid out her things for night. She ate travel rations from her saddlebags and lay back under the stars.

000

Then next morning she packed up, saddled her gold-brown gelding Dragonracer and moved out. Near midday she stopped in a sandy cove to eat a cold meal, lost in thought.

If she didn't find a clutch soon she might have to go back the way she had come empty handed, and her people were counting on her to bring them the little creatures to replace the messengers they had lost. Dragonracer tossed his head and snorted. Virika patted his neck to calm him and swung onto the runnerbeast's back. With a scream, at the same time as a shadow passed over them, he reared and threw her off his back, close to several large, weathered slabs of rock.

Dazed, she heard him gallop off down the beach in terror. Then the sound of a large creature dropping lightly out of the sky from leathery wings to the sand and of Dragonracer falling over. Virika sat up and turned, confused.

Crouched beside her, with her runnerbeast galloping down the beach, glaring at her with large, orange eyes was a human-sized, pale-gold queen dragon.

000

Kilatch heard the runnerbeast, and licked her lips– she was very hungry. It was nice when food came to her.

The gold dragon-woman didn't even look at the beast fully; she only dived out of the sky and it bolted, rearing and throwing something large off its back before it did so. She twisted and fell to the sand in a croush, for only then did she see that it was a human girl, now lying next to her clutch of eggs.

With a screech she launched herself at the child, then stopped, her wings half unfurled as she poised to take to the skies. The fear in the little human's face stopped her in her tracks. From behind the rock slabs Kilatch liked to lay on Satch leapt, and landed so close to the eggs that Kilatch cried out, too fearful to realize that no dragon person would ever harm the future of their race.

"My clutch!"

The little human started, and looked at the eggs suddenly, only then realizing what they were. But she had heard, and more importantly, understood what the dragon-woman had cried in anguish.

"My eggs– don't hurt my eggs!" pleaded Kilatch, gesturing to Satch to back off. The bronze dragon-man did, with a growl, and crouched, his wings unfolding slightly in his tension. The queen stretched her hands out to the human girl in a gesture of pleading and worry. "Please…" whispered Kilatch, feeling tears in her eyes as the human girl looked at the eggs

000

Virika could see that the bronze dragon-human meant to kill her as soon as she left the near-dozen eggs. (she hadn't time to count.) She could also see that the queen was immobilized from her fear that she would harm the eggs. It was so strange to hear words in her own language spoken from such a strange creature. And her accent was so alien…

Like any mother, she wanted to protect her children– any way she could. That meant she might just kill Virika. It also meant, that since she had warned the bronze against her clutch, the eggs were likely the only reason she was still alive. These eggs were her protection against the wrath of their parents.

The girl took a deep breath. At least she could understand the dragon-people, and they probably could understand her. She decided to bargain with them.

"How do I know, once I'm out of here, that you won't rip me to shreds?"

The queen looked at her with such anguish, tears spilling down her face, that she moved her hand to her heart.

"Get out of my nest!" growled the bronze dragon-person, raising a clawed hand threateningly.

"Stop it, Satch!" cried the queen. "I don't want her running out of there and killing our children!"

"She can't be left close to them!" the bronze Satch shot at his mate. "She could smash them- you know they break when they're this close to hatching! I won't let her kill any of our children, if it means dying for them myself!"

Virika put one hand experimentally onto the shell of one, more gold-tan to the other's brown-cream. Beneath her fingers, the egg lurched, and she pulled her hand away with a gasp.

A second bronze dragon-person flapped laboriously over her, and landed in the sand beside Satch and Kilatch; in his arms he carried a fat creature with gray fur, a long tail and six legs. Depositing it next to the eggs he opened his mouth and breathed a stream of fire over the carcass, roasting it neatly. Then he stood up and bowed to the parents, who watched, utterly confused as he flap-hopped over the eggs and on to the rock slabs and began humming, deep in his throat.

Suddenly Kilatch gasped, nearly as frantically as Virika had a moment before, and lunged out to her eggs protectively. "My eggs– they're hatching! Get out human, now!" she cried.

The new bronze suddenly seemed to realize she was there, and cried out in anger and shock, reaching down to the girl as if to yank her out of the nest. She dodged, and in the same moment scooped up the gold-tan egg, about as large as her head, and held it in front of her like a shield.

"Wait, Calamitch!" screeched Kilatch, spreading one wing to briefly block the bronzes view of Virika, who was staring at the egg she held as it shuddered and formed cracks on its sides. More bronze, gold, brown, green and blue dragon-people were arriving, each of their skins a lighter version of a dragon's, fire lizard's or watch-wher's hide. As each saw the girl they tensed, and prepared to spring, then settled back as Kilatch spoke.

"She holds a queen's life in her hands. With a second, she could kill my daughter. Let her hatch, and this little human will be ours. But wait until she is not holding my child before we attack!"

"You speak sense, Kilatch," the one called Calamitch said, and relaxed, though his eyes still narrowed hostilely at the girl.

Virika looked at the egg she held. In a second the shell shattered and the little queen fell into the girl's arms, where she stood, shook her weak wings and crooned at Virika, sending out thoughts of hunger. Without thinking the girl reached out and took the gray animal Calamitch had dropped. The queen tore into the food savagely, as other eggs hatched, were ushered away by bronzes and given their first meals. Never once did Virika look away from the young dragon-person, and it was only to look at her other children that Kilatch's glance strayed from the human.

As soon as the little queen, more draconic than the adults as this stage, was fed, she turned her eyes to Vririka again, and stood up to her full three-foot height. The girl caught her breath looking into those green-blue eyes. _You should close your mouth before an insect crawls in,_ Hayatch informed Virika.


	3. Truce

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Three: _Truce_

Virika looked around at the adult dragon-people, grinning irrationally in her excitement at finding out the name of the little queen first. "She's Hayatch! Her name's Hayatch!" the girl told them gleefully. _I_ know my _name, Virika, and yours. And my belly is_ empty. The dragon-child looked up at her new friend, and glared at her, demanding more food. One of the brown dragon-people brought her a small, already cooked wherry, and she gave it to Hayatch.

When the newly hatched queen was full, she curled up on Virika's lap and went to sleep. The girl smiled down at her little friend. "What are you doing, human?" spat the bronze, Satch, and Virika jumped, turning quickly to face him.

"Hayatch trusts me. I think that's grounds enough for you all to trust me. A dragon in the Weyr trusts the humans in his or her Weyr: fighting dragons trust their riders to give them fire stone to chew and Weyrling dragons trust their riders to keep them oiled. Even the _queen_ dragons have to rely on their riders –_humans_– to keep them from overeating in a mating flight so they fly far and long!" Finished with her angry speech, Virika glared at Satch, hands on hips, and waited.

"Wait- you said that the queens are kept from overeating in mating flights by their riders?" The startled question was from Kilatch, for Satch only glared back at the human.

"Yes…" the girl affirmed slowly, looking over at the wide-eyed queen.

"They fly far and long?" asked Satch, catching on to Kilatch's train of thoughts. "How do the _humans_ keep them from gorging?"

"Well," began Virika, startled by their interest, "first the queen Impresses a human." She looked down at her sleeping Hayatch, realizing for the first time that she had actually Impressed the small dragon-person, not just befriended her. Virika kept that to herself. "When the queen rises to mate, her rider holds her, with her mind my mother told me, and makes her only drink the blood." Virika shuddered. "And then the queen flies longer and farther than she would otherwise."

"Satch, that is what we queens need- not just our help, but a –what id you say? Impressed?– human, to keep us from overeating!" Kilatch grabbed her mate's arm in her excitement, then looked at Virika. She bit her lip, but before another dragon-person could deny her plan, she spoke. "Could you do this for us? Could you join thoughts with us and keep us from overeating?"

All the dragon-people began to protest at once, but Kilatch silenced them. "It is not what we would like, to be forced to rely on these creatures to survive, but our situation is desperate!"

Caught totally off guard, Virika's jaw dropped, and she but her lip as the queen had. "I- I cannot, for you. Maybe, with Hayatch, I could. I think that I have Impressed her. Mother described this as the feeling one gets from Impression." Her last two lines were more to herself, and she smiled tenderly down at the small gold hatchling, so human and draconic at the same time.

The females seemed to accept it reasonably quickly, though some greens and the males were less ready to depend on so (to their thinking) inferior a race.

"Yes," Virika said, raising her face to the adults. "I could do it with Hayatch. But only if you promise not to rip me to shreds, which is obviously what _some_ of you still want to do." She glanced at Calamitch, and smiled wryly.

The bronze dragon-person glared down at her sullenly, though not actively hostile anymore.

000

_I am most hungry._ With a muffled "Mph! Go 'way…" Virika turned over, but was poked in her ribs. She sat up, frowning, and looked at Hatatch. Her little queen was sitting next to her, one claw out to prod her again. For a second she was confused, and then she recalled her accidental Impression of the small dragon-person, only the day before.

"Oh!" she cried. "I'm sorry, I didn't remember. Let's get you some food." She shifted her furs, which Dragondancer had carried until she could recapture her runnerbeast, and crawled out, no longer sleepy. Virika stood and ran one hand through her hair to contain it somewhat.

"There is food for the hatchlings in the cave." With a squeak the girl spun, coming face-to-face with a large queen head and shoulders taller than herself. "Calmly, if you please." It was Kilatch. Nodding, Virika followed the low-skimming queen as she showed the girl the caverns where cooked and dried meat was stored in clefts in the rocks. Even Kilatch would have had to raise herself up on a crack in the wall to reach the ceiling, but she shuffled her large brown-gold wings and gestured with the tip of one to a still-warm, cooked leg of heardbeast.

Hayatch tucked in, with somewhat more manners than she had before and nearing human-standard table etiquette. Virika watched for a second, then turned away, looking to the second entrance of the cavern, which led to the beach; she had come in by way of a clearing in the jungle. The sun was high, as usual in the Southern Continent, and beating down on the beach mercilessly.

Vaguely Virika wondered if the dragon-folk, who seemed so much more intelligent and advanced than even a queen dragon, still liked to laze in the sun as fire lizards and dragons both did. Then again, she couldn't see why not, for humans also enjoyed sunning themselves on beaches.

"Are you also hungry, human child?" asked Kilatch, coming to stand next to Virika. "I do not know how often your people eat, or if the young eat more than adults as ours do; you are but a hatchling yourself."

Once again Virika was startled by just how differently the queen treated her than from when she had first fallen in the eggs. Last night they had talked long after Timor and Belior had risen, and they found they could learn much from each other.

"Yes," Virika admitted, "I am rather hungry. But Dragonracer still has some of my food, and I can find fruits and other kinds of food in the jungle. You seem to need all the meat you can get for the hatchlings," she added as a little green dragon-person began her breakfast beside Hayatch, who got up, having finished, and came over to her-

Just what did she call Virika? Watch-wher's human partners called them wher-handlers, and dragons called them riders, but just what did one call the dragon-child's Impressed human? Rider and handler seemed to be more for more animal-like creatures. These dragon-folk were too human-like to have _handlers_.

_Friend. Just friend._ Hayatch still only mind-spoke, being uneducated in audible speech. The three-foot-tall queen pulled on Virika's breeches, and the girl took a few paces outside of the cave to sit, and took her little friend onto her lap, smiling as the golden person curled up like a large fire lizard in her lap. Then Virika stared out over the ocean, lost in thought, absently stroking Hayatch's soft amber wings.

She looked up as Kilatch came and sat beside her, with her legs crossed tailor-style. Finally the girl looked over at Kilatch. "You have told me that your people were all those assembled around us for the hatching, and that this was why you needed longer mating flights for you queens. But I never learned just how long it will be until I am able to assist you. How long until Hayatch grows up? How long until she can fly, can mate? How long until she can be considered an adult? In short, what is the culture of your people like?"

Kilatch appeared to consider her questions. "I think it is easiest to tell of a dragon-person's life-cycle first. It will answer many of your questions."

Virika asked her to clarify some details, and to describe some things better, but finally she could grasp a limited understanding of the political structure of the dragon-people.

As in any even vaguely draconic society, the golden queens were put before all other colors. The only reason bronzes were the only ones who flew them was that the blues and browns had less powerful wings; each color specialized in something. Queens mated, guarded their eggs and protected hatchlings. Bronzes flew queens, helped them with the eggs and hatchlings and also protected their golden mates. The browns' main job was to find firestone, while blues and greens mostly hunted farther than the other colors and brought back their kills for cooking or preservation. If an enemy attacked, like the felines, it was the responsibility of all colors to defend their home, food and young ones.

Until a queen flew, around one year after hatching, she would be considered a child. The term 'hatchling' was given only to the dragon-children younger than two full phase-changes of the moons. For unknown reasons, the dragon-folk matured very fast and then aged quite slowly once they had attained their full growth. This was even apparent in the eggs; when a queen mated she had about half a moon-phase before laying her eggs. Once laid, they hardened, like dragon and fire lizard eggs, over the course of about three moon-phases.

"I had no idea your system was so complicated- or so different from the dragons'. It seems so soon for a mating flight- a year?"

Kilatch nodded. "But we only rise perhaps once every two full years. And, why you are here, we rarely have more golden daughters, and rarely more than seven or eight in a clutch. My eleven was cause for excitement, even more than a normal clutch."

"You've told me that it'll be a year or so before Hayatch rises to mate. Long will I have to stay here? I do need to return to my own family sometime, if only so I can tell them I'm all right and not to worry while I'm away."

Virika looked over at Kilatch with a frown when the queen did not answer, and saw that the dragon-person was staring at the sand, sketching loops and designs in the small grains. Finally she stood, and looked out over the ocean.

"I understood that you could not leave once you had –_Impressed_, correct?–,so how can you leave us? Hayatch? And she cannot come with you. You cannot leave without her, but you also cannot leave with her. I see only that you cannot leave until she has grown wiser and older. You cannot leave."


	4. A Life's New Order

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Four: _A Life's New Order_

Kilatch turned and returned into the cave. But I must leave- mother has to know where I am, that I'm all right! thought Virika, trying not to panic. How can I send word if I can't return home, at least to tell her? And these dragon-people will prove very hard to get past if I try to sneak out.

Hayatch stirred on her lap, and the girl calmed. If I could leave her behind, perhaps I could do it…

_You want me to go away_? asked the queen shakily, staring up at her as she came instantly awake. _You wish to leave me behind?_

No, that wasn't what Virika wanted; not now, or ever. They had Impressed, and nothing would ever separate them. _Never. Never, never, never. _she told the little golden child. _I just want to tell my own mother I am going to stay here._

Virika gazed off into the distance, remembering her family. She'd always been distant from her people, always avoiding her chores to go off alone, into the plains, or jungle or beach or wherever. Raised by a mother who loved her but left her alone most of the time to care for her two younger sisters and brother, she had grown independent, ranging the wilderness, often the first person to find a place.

It was startling to realize that she didn't want to leave the dragon-people in favor of her own kinds' company; she only wanted to be sure her family was not terrified for her. Virika closed her eyes, feeling tears spring up.

She didn't _want_ to stay with them any more.

Suddenly, crazily, she smiled, and lifted her shoulders and chin. Hayatch climbed off her lap and the human stood tall, facing into the wind and she strode confidently down to the beach. With her people she had known everything, everyone and everywhere they went. Now and adventure was hers for the taking, and she meant to enjoy every second of it.

000

She lost track of her sevendays, and almost of time itself as it passed. Dragondancer had solved several problems for her. First, she would not let the dragon-people eat him, and he was of no use to them in any other way. This was solved in the same way as the second problem that she needed to get word to her people.

After securing all unneeded items to her runnerbeast, she also slipped in a note to her mother.

_I am well and safe. Please do not try to find me, as I have no need to be found, and the people I am with even less need. We are quite content together, and though it will be a long time before you will see me again, I shall return in harvesting time. Everything I need is with me. Send me your love, and support, and I'll think of you often._

_With love and gratitude for your requested discretion,_

_Virika now of the Dragon-folk._

This last bit, 'of the Dragon-folk' ought to leave them hanging, she thought, amused as she gave her faithful runnerbeast a last pat. He always returned to his remembered stall when they lost track of each other, and she was depending on this to get word to her people. Dragonracer whickered, but she gave him a sharp slap on the rump and her last connection to her own people raced off.

000

Eventually Virika became a great part of the dragon-peoples' lives. They became accustomed to her and her oddities, such as eating things other than meat and fish.

She helped the blues and greens haul kills home, and when Bakitatch laid her clutch of nine eggs the girl assisted the queen by bringing her food. Virika salted meats to preserve them and caught fish with the dragon-people, though using a branch, vine, bait and thorn-hook, to the amusement of her claw-snatching friends.

All through this Hayatch followed her around, helping wherever possible. After her first moon-phase she had grown so her head was at a level with Virika's shoulders, and her wings were large enough to carry her into flight. One moon-phase later she stood as tall as her human friend, though still shorter than the shortest adult dragon-person. As all the queens, she left fire stone alone.

It was surprising to Virika how little she missed her family in the months that they were separate. Somehow it disturbed her that she did not feel the need to return to the small hold that had been established, and was her home.

But as the days, sevendays and months went by she could not help but feel remarkably at home with the dragon-people. Virika felt that they were closer to her than her own family had ever been. They let her do as she pleased, provided she did her part of the work needed, which she did gladly.

At home she had needed to pay compliments to people who sniffed, turned their noses up into the air and ignored her, and asked how people who she had seen abuse fire lizards were. She had not been one of the more high-ranking people, being a minor daughter of a minor lady, but it would have been nice for her –for anyone, really– to be treated as an equal.

With the dragon-people she was an equal; with them the only distinct rank difference was in the separate colors' tasks. She pitched in with everything as required.

Virika grew used to the dragon-peoples' way of life, and enjoyed it fully. So that she was ready to fight the felines that sometimes attacked the small population, she was taught their style of fighting, using claws and tails, which she altered sufficiently to suit her fists and legs. One friendly brown named Daymitch was most adept at their hand-to-hand combat techniques, and after her first initial instruction she could be found some portion of five or six days a week with him, working on some skill or another. In time they became great friends.

Hayatch was more aggressive than the other queens, and was quite willing to be taught fighting moves by Daymitch, and soon surpassed Virika's altered way of fighting with the original kind. Her growth was nearly a hindrance now, for she had no time to fit in to her body and was sometimes awkward. Had she been human she might have been teased, but her kind were not cruel like some of Virika's folk. In the skies, on the other hand, she was more graceful and precise than her clutch-mates, and many of the older dragon-people.

Half a Turn passed quite happily in this new life style almost before Virika realized it.

000

Lazing in the sun, Hayatch and Virika sat companionably on the rock slabs near where the queen's egg and her sibling's eggs had lain. Stretched out on one side Hayatch was a tall, graceful, light dragon-person. Her skin was a lovely golden-peach color, her wings fading into light amber. Standing, she would now tower over her human friend by chest, shoulders and head, and even her mother by half a head or more.

Virika was just dozing when Hayatch twitched her peach-gold tail restlessly, thumping her lightly on the side; the human girl was father down on the rock than her dragon-person friend. She opened one eye sleepily, looked up at the queen for a second and then closed her eyes, shifting a little to a more comfortable position. Another brush.

This time Virika opened both eyes and rolled onto her stomach to look at her friend. Hayatch was gazing out over the ocean, a distant and troubled look in her eyes. "What's wrong?" croaked the girl, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand and propping herself up with the other forearm.

"I- I do not know. There is something wrong…" The queen seemed confused, frightened and distant. "Something bad…"

"Like what? A hurricane or Thread?" Virika had seen several Threadfalls with the dragon-people. They had weathered them in the caves, storing everything that might be damaged by Thread with them in the vast underground network of tunnels that could be found at the rear of the food storage cavern. It was truly amazing to Virika how large those tunnels were. Each and every dragon-person, down to the remaining seven hatchlings of Bakitatch's clutch, now hatched for about three moon-phases, and Virika herself could fit. It was sad to realize that they would not need to find more room- two blue dragon-people and a brown had died, as had two from Bakitatch's original nine eggs.

"No. It is- bad." Hayatch seemed distressed, but could not give an answer as to what troubled her, and this was even more frightening to Virika than knowing what the subtle menace was that affected her queen so. Even more worrisome was that only Hayatch, of all the dragon-people, sensed it. Time and again the dragon-people listened, straining to get a better response, but it eluded them. They finally got an answer, of a sort, around noon.

The shriek of a terrified runnerbeast, the yell of a startled young person and the death-cries of the horse filled the air. In a second Virika was on her feet, and dashed out of the cave where she had just finished braiding her hair. Unmistakably a young voice, from the left of the direction of the new clutch of eggs Igatch had completed that very morning, rose in terrified screams. Rounding the rocks Virika tried to deny the fact that another human had found the dragon-people, but the scene that met her eyes destroyed that illusion of safety.


	5. Visitors

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Five: _Visitors_

Two queens, Igatch and Hayatch were holding the arms of a clearly panic-stricken young woman. Kilatch and Satch were doing likewise to a young man, older than the girl by no more than a Turn or two, and clearly doing his best to remain silent. Worse than knowing another human was there to destroy her peaceful existence with the dragon-people was knowing who those people were.

The girl, whose hair was a darker brown that Virika's and done up in many small braids, was her own younger sister Vyrania. She was fourteen, younger than the resident guest of the dragon-folks' by three years, while her companion, at only a year younger than Virika herself, was Eleneir. Squawking at the top of her lungs a green fire lizard darted back and fourth between the dragon-people, unsuccessfully trying to get them to let go of her human friend. Vyrania's little blue lizard was cheeping pitifully on the sands farther back, one wing caught underneath himself, in his claws.

"Hayatch, Kilatch, Satch, Igatch! Let them go!" (Distantly she wondered why all watch-wher names ended in _sk_, all dragon names ended in _th _and all dragon-person named ended in _tch_.) "Vyrania, Eleneir, stop struggling!" She was as surprised as they were to hear herself issue an order in a woman's voice, clear and calm, and even more amazed when it was obeyed.

Vyrania and Eleneir stared at Virika disbelievingly as they sat in the sand next to each other. Kifewing, the green, was still attempting to attack the dragon-people. "And that is enough from you!" snapped Virika, hands on hips, glaring at the green. With a surprised squawk the little fire lizard settled swiftly down on her owner's shoulder, crooning anxiously in his ear. A low cry of pain reached Virika, and she strode over to pick up the little blue that belonged to her sister. Handing Lacefrost to his owner she bit her lip, and regarded her uninvited guests silently.

Suddenly her little sister, the blue flapping to keep his balance, stood and lunged at Virika, grasping her in a hug. "We thought someone had taken you, and you ended up as a drudge! We thought you had been made to write that note, that 'of the dragon-folk' meant that you had been taken to the Weyr!" cried the younger girl. Virika returned the hug just as fiercely, closing her eyes against the tears of so unexpected reunion.

Of all her family Vyrania was the one sister she had thought least likely to see again, and the one she most wanted to.

"I have been here, and quite happy, Vyrania. But –Shards!– why ever did you leave them?" She stood back, holding her sister at arms' length to look her over. The younger girl was nearly as ever, except more tanned than she recalled.

"Mother has me running up the coast trying to find you- Dragonracer returned during the night so we couldn't tell which direction he came from. I went the other way first; that's why we only just got here. We're been gathering another crop."

At the mention of the third human, Virika glanced at him, and he nodded to say that Vyrania's explanation was true as he stood up smiling shyly at her.

Eleneir was the son of a runnerbeast trainer who her family had known since before Virika had been born. She smiled back, just as carefully politely. Even with only her sister there to witness neither of them wanted anyone to think that there had or was anything between them. They were friends. That was all.

"Virika? These are friends of yours?" Startled, the older girl turned, and noticed that Hayatch was looking down at them curiously. Several other dragon-people were grouped around her on the rock slabs.

"This is my sister, Vyrania, and my family's friend Eleneir," she explained. It occurred to her that the fire lizards they had were the first she had seen; unusual for such a lovely spot for them, she mused absently, then turned back to the other humans, gesturing to Hayatch and introduced her to them.

Hesitantly Vyrania came forward and held out her hand to the intimidating, fierce-looking seven-foot-tall queen. Hayatch, startled, looked at the hand, then at Virika, who grinned. "You shake it," she said. Her friend warily took the girl's thumb, and juggled it a little. Virika and Eleneir traded grins, then looked away before they laughed out loud.

"Your family and friend present us with a problem," Kilatch said, a frown on her face as she came to stand beside her slightly taller daughter. "They now know of us. They have seen and spoken with us."

"Eleneir wouldn't tell anyone, and neither would Vyrania," Virika stoutly defended them. "Would you." It was not a question.

Both shook their heads.

"Nonetheless, they have seen and spoken with us. They must swear to secrecy. No other humans have even found us before, besides you Virika, and you were –are, I suppose– quite discrete."

"Of course we'll swear. By… by the shards of Faranth's egg, I swear not to say a word to anyone of your existence, milady." Vyrania bowed to the queen.

"I pledge through Fall, fire and fog to let your presence go unnoticed by any," swore Eleneir quietly, and bowed with courtly grace to mother and daughter.

"Is that satisfactory, Kilatch?" asked Virika, and the queen nodded.

"We will be content." she replied, bowing her head gratefully to the pair of newcomers.

Now the formalities were over, Virika saw no reason to stand on ceremony with those she had know for many years. "It's too hot here. Let's go swimming a little," she suggested, turning to her sister and friend. The others nodded happily, and raced for the ocean. Starting after them Virika turned and beckoned to Hayatch, who sprang into the air and dove under the water as the other three splashed happily after her.

000

After spending most of the long, hot afternoon in the water the four of them clambered out and followed Virika back to the rock where they lazed, drying off. When the first breath of chill night wind made them shiver Virika showed them the best place she thought for them to sleep. Just inside the cave's entrances there were large alcoves, sheltered from the wind. She herself curled up with Hayatch where they usually stayed in a large pocket on the outside of the caves,

All around the dragon-people slept on the jungle; their thick skins proved handy in the rather chilly night air.

000

The next morning, when the sun was already warming the day, Virika crawled out of her alcove, careful not to disturb Hayatch, and half slid, half scrambled to the ground. She found that Eleneir's and Vyrania's runnerbeasts had returned from their fright, and coaxed them to come to her, then tethered them to trees with plenty of grazing ground and removed their burdens. Her sister found her there, grooming Eleneir's light-gray mare; the younger girl's mount, a red-brown girl, had attended first.

"We want to return to the Hold soon." Vyrania said abruptly, giving her mare a pat on the neck. "Mother will be missing all three of us, and I don't want that."

Virika continued to groom the gray, face troubled, but resolute. Then she turned to face her sister and locked eyes with her. "Neither do I. That's why I'm coming back with you."


	6. Family and Friends

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Six: _Family and Friends_

"The only reason I stayed so long was that Hayatch needed me. I am the only one who can control her mating flight and these dragon-people needed a queen to fly far and long. Only a girl who had Impressed a queen can link to her during a flight and keep her from eating to much. The last time the others tried to force a queen to blood, not gorge she nearly wounded another queen- fatally.

"These are kind folk; I do not want their race to go extinct. They may soon; the queens produce small clutches and very rarely any new queens. Blue, green, bronze, gold or brown. All of them are dying. Slowly, but in the end the deaths will outweigh the births- or hatchings, I suppose.

"Hayatch will not rise for at least another half year; I will not be needed until then. She can bear the separation now, as can I." As she spoke her sister stood still, listening. Vyrania blinked when she turned back to groom the gray mare.

"I want to see mother again; to hear her sing, to hear a harper play. The dragon-people are incredible, but they have no music or songs I can comprehend. Just for a little while; maybe a sevenday, maybe less. I want to see the family and all our friends. Just for a little while."

Virika spent the day playing with Hayatch and explaining to her what she intended and why. Her queen's pain and horror was hard, but she understood. Family played a very important role in the dragon-people's life.

The three humans finally left the next day when the sun had cleared the horizon but not yet had a chance to heat the South to its extreme. Sadly Hayatch, Kilatch, Satch and Daymitch (the brown who had taught the girl their style of fighting) watched them fade into the forest. Kilatch placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder to express her sorrow and to comfort the younger queen. Hayatch bore the hardest load of the dragon-people. While others had befriended Virika, she had Impressed the girl. Each step they took away from each other was a little blow to her, and she knew that Virika felt it also.

_I shall return; do not fear! And we can always mind-speak_, the human reassured Hayatch.

_I know, _the queen thought back, _but it us hard. Look up at the moons every night we are gone, as soon as they rise. I will look also and we will be together in our thoughts, if not truly._

000

It was the afternoon the next day when Virika, Vyrania and Eleneir arrived at the small camp; the elder girl walked, so the two riders slowed to her speed. Eleneir's mother, Dasaneir was gathering redfruit from the trees a dragonlength or two away from the tent she currently lived in with Eleneir, her husband Eleirlan and her daughter, little Dasamirlan.

She disappeared into her house with the bundle of redfruit. Eleirlan came from the back of the house after a moment, where the stables for his runnerbeasts were, leading a mare swollen with pregnancy to the horse trough for a drink. Following above him, so as not to startle the heavy black horse, was little brown fire lizard Morning; it was he who first spotted the three returning travelers and alerted his owner with cries of excitement.

Dasaneir came out of the house again, drying her hands on a cloth, with Morning's mate, green Twilight. She saw Virika and froze, eyes wide and jaw slack; it was a looser expression than Eleirlan's stare as he scratched the black mare's white face-blaze.

"So ye weren't carried off to serve as a pretty drudge, Virika," he said when his son and the older girl's sister dismounted. Then Eleirlan's face broke out in a broad grin and he took up Virika in a hug that all but broke her back.

"Where've you been, lass? We all but stormed the Weyr to find you! And now you come dancin' back, cool as can be." He let her go, still grinning foolishly.

"That's a fair long tale, and I shan't have time to tell it all." I won't tell any of my real tale, she resolved. The three had come up with a story in which they found her wandering in the jungle; she would say that Dragonracer had dumped her somewhere in the forest and she had gone the wrong way to find the beach; nearly the exact opposite direction she had wanted to go to find the hold. She had wandered in the forest for a few sevendays, and a long time back she had found the beach again, up in the direction they had come from. Then she had been forced to wait until they returned. After that she would say that she had eventually caught up with Eleneir and Vyrania, and they had brought her back.

"Well, you go say how do you do to your own family, and then you drag all of them over to our house and we'll have a great big diner ready." Dasaneir had come up, and now she gave her little friend a hug just as fierce as Eleirlan's. "I'll cook enough for you to eat yourself sick- you're too skinny after wandering about in the wilds for so long."

Virika grinned and nodded eagerly. She had existed for the last half-Turn on fruits, vegetables, fish and the occasional wherry or heardbeast. It would be nice to had red meat, cooked and dressed as she loved.

She said her farewells and took her leave with Vyrania. Their home was not too many dragonlengths farther, and they arrived swiftly on foot; Vyrania had returned the runnerbeast she had used to her proper family. First to spy them was again a fire lizard- their elder brother's green. Glitter put up such a fuss from her perch on the roof that Virika reached with her mind and told her to be quiet. And the little creature obeyed.

Virika stopped dead in astonishment. How could she now control her brother Darrinel.'s fire lizard? It wasn't possible- no, he must have silenced the little creature, at the same time as she had wished her quiet.

The first human to respond to their presence was their littlest sister, at three Turns old. Kurit was sitting on the sand before the tent door-flap. She looked up when the green screamed, saw Virika and shrieked her glee at having her sister back. Clapping her hands and giggling madly she raced to meet them, and nearly fell flat on her face. Her eldest sister scooped her up and hugged her tight until the small child wriggled.

"I'm back, Kurit," she whispered into the young girl's sun streaked brown hair as she held on to Virika. For now.

000

Later, after the small feast at Eleneir's house, Virika and her mother, Virisail, her sisters Vyrania, Kurit and Golisail, her father Golikai and her elder brother Darrinel returned to their own home, full and content only to fall into bed. Virika only removed her boots before tumbling on to her small bed in the space she shared with her sisters.

A minute passed. She wasn't asleep, though she was so tired she felt she was dead. It was strange not to had Hayatch by her side; they had been together for half a Turn, and she was used to being with the dragon-person all of the time.

One more minute crept by. It was stuffy, so she sighed, got up and opened the cloth flap wider. The night noises did not disturb her sisters, only her. She put her hands over her ears but it would be hard to keep them that way until she was fully asleep.

Another minute. Virika's bed was nearly _too_ soft after sleeping in that cave for the past half-Turn. The moons were going to rise soon. They reminded her of the promise she and Hayatch shared.

_Look up at the moons every night we are gone, as soon as they rise. I will look also and we will be together in our thoughts._

Virika crawled out of bed and crept down to the beach, waiting as the moons began to clear the horizon, clear in the starry skies. A brushing of thought touched hers, and she knew that Hayatch was looking at the moons as well. In turn the young woman touched her friend's mind.

"Hello, friend," she whispered, and gazed at the moons again.

"Hello." The voice startled her, and she spun. Hayatch stood just above the waves on the beach. Virika frowned, not happy to see that her friend had ventured so close to human dwellings.

About to scold her friend she sighed instead. The queen would prove more stubborn than a mean heardbeast if she tried to get her to fly away again. Virika smiled, got up and gave her friend a hug. "It is good to see you."

"And you." Hayatch hugged her human friend back, towering over her.

"Virika? Who's that?" came a voice suddenly. It was Darrinel, with Glitter on his shoulder.


	7. Brother

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Seven: _Brother_

Frantically Virika looked around for some way to hide her friend, but Hayatch was too big and all too visible with the moonlight glinting over her gold skin. It was too late. Glitter took off of Darrinel's arm and flew at the dragon-person. 

"That is enough!" To Virika's surprise, the green squeaked and landed on the dragon-person's arm when Hayatch spoke crossly to her.

Biting her lip, Virika turned slowly to her elder brother, waiting to see his reaction. He just stood and stared at Hayatch.

Finally, when Hayatch looked up from her calming of Glitter, he blinked, then shot an indecipherable look at his sister. "I can't wait to hear this explained," he said calmly. "But first- just what is that thing?"

"I am Hayatch, a queen of the dragon-folk," she told him, drawing herself up proudly.

"She's a friend, Darrinel. Just think of her as a human-thinking dragon. A very… _small_ queen dragon," added Virika, looking up at the seven and a half foot tall queen who towered over her.

Darrinel managed a weak smile, still staring at the dragon-person in that strange way.

"So talk." He settled down on the log that Virika had previously been using as a seat. His sister looked at him, about to refuse. "Either you tell me what's goin' on or I tell father what I think is goin' on.

"No! You can't tell!" Virika stepped forward and grabbed her older brother's arm. "No one- you can't let them be killed, and they will be if anyone finds them!"

Darrinel raised one eyebrow and settled back on the log, patting the weather-blackened wood beside him. Reluctantly she sat, and began the true story that had begun half a Turn ago.

000

"How many of you are left?" Darrinel had listened patiently to their joint relation of the last six months, asking a few questions, and then sat silent for a while, thinking. Now he raised his head.

Hayatch's wings, folded over her shoulders and locked by her 'thumbs' over her chest, drooped as she closed her eyes. "Less than fifty. And I am the newest queen; there are five others, including my mother." Both humans could see that the queen felt the weight of her responsibility to continue her species' scarce hold on the world.

"It is my job to help her eat little before her mating flight," offered Virika, placing a comforting hand on Hayatch's arm, "so that she will fly far and long; like dragons, that will mean a larger clutch and maybe more queens. More queens- that girls could help, as I will Hayatch, if they can Impress-"

"Impress?" interrupted her brother swiftly, straightening from his limp seat. "Your people can Impress like dragons or fire lizards?" The question was directed at Hayatch as he suddenly put a hand to Glitter.

"I have Impressed Virika," answered the queen evenly, "or she has Impressed me. Either way, yes: we are together."

"Impressed…" mused the young man, thinking to himself.

"But don't you see?" asked Virika excitedly, reverting back to her subject about the Impression of queens. "If other girls can Impress other queens then _they_ can also help _their_ queens in mating flights! The clutches will be bigger, and there will be _more_ queens- to Impress, and- and so on. They can survive."

All of them stood there, digesting this information in their own way.

Finally Darrinel stood and brushed off the seat of his sleeping clothes. "You need sleep, as do I," he told his younger sister. "Prob'ly you too." This was directed to Hayatch. "Let's turn in; in the morning we can decide how best to get whoever we think should Impress the new queen out there _to_ Impress her."

Virika knew he was right, and she nodded, yawning. Bidding her friend and her brother goodnight she returned to her room, silently so as not to wake her sisters, and fell into bed, half asleep already. Hayatch retraced her steps back down the beach when she felt her human friend fall asleep and then took off from the small cliff she had landed on. Darrinel remained on the log, thinking long after they had both left, staring at his hands. As the moon lit his face the grin from which plots are born spread across his face. He got up and returned to his own room, still forming plans.

000

It was little Kurit who woke her with her grumblings in her dreams. The sun streaming in was from just after dawn. Virika stretched her arms, remembering everything that had happened in the past day, and especially the last night. Darrinel could be devious and sly, but he was a true friend. And it was good that he seemed to count her as a friend now, rather than an annoying sibling.

Virika made her bed, something she had not done in six months, and padded out of the room. Her older brother was making klah, and she nodded to him.

"Hayatch shouldn't have come last night, or at all," he told her, passing her the mug of klah and settling next to her at the kitchen table with his own.

"I know." She sighed, and sipped the warm liquid; it was the best she had tasted in the last six months. "She's the most stubborn person I ever met. It would do no good to yell at her."

"How did you Impress her?" he asked.

"Same as you did Glitter." Virika took a sip of klah, indicating the green fire lizard, who was curled around her Darrinel's neck, asleep.

"Food, talking, love-thoughts?"

"Yep. And sheer dumb luck to get stuck with her egg in my hands when it cracked. Like I said last night; I got tossed off Dragondancer and he landed me in the middle of the clutch."

"Dragon-people. Their like something out of a dream." Darrinel stared in to his mug of klah, then shook his head as if trying to get a thought out of it and took a sip of his drink. "Do you think- well, if a queen can be Impressed… maybe…" Virika saw what he meant; he wanted to Impress one. Knowing him, she knew he was thinking of a bronze for himself. He'd always been the possessive type, and seemed to hold the rest of the world in the category of either minions, servants or those he must behoove to.

"It depends on what the dragon-people say, but I think they'd give you a chance to Impress one of their hatchlings. Then again they might think that only the queens should be Impressionable, because they don't want too much association with us, as humans. It was only their need that led them to take such desperate measures as having a human practically hold the fate of their race in her hands when Hayatch rises to mate."

"But we can ask them when we see them?"

"Absolutely," Virika assured him.

"Ask who what?" Kurit, yawning as she came into the kitchen.

"We- we wanted to ask Eleneir and his family if they could led us runnerbeasts again so we could go find… eggs. Fire lizard eggs."

When Darrinel raised one eyebrow at her she added so that he understood, "And maybe we'll be gone for a few days, finding just the perfect clutch."


	8. Different Impressions

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Eight: _Different Impressions_

And so they left the next morning. After begging horses from Eleneir's family they set out with the small amount of food they would need; there was always fish or fruit close by along the coast. The party traveled silently, but not unfriendly silence. It was the silence of companionability, and fully comfortable.

Virika and Vyrania rode up front, to lead, and Darrinel followed scarcely behind. These three had asked some girls to join them in a hunt for eggs, not mentioning what kind of eggs and leaving the girls to assume fire lizard eggs. If they were rebuked later they could say truthfully that they had never said a word about fire lizards.

Only one of the three asked (they only wanted to have very few so that there would be less people who knew of the dragon-folk but hadn't Impressed one of them) had said yes; Virika and Vyrania's cousin Sofreteh. Sofreteh now rode a little behind the main group, looking around with interest: she had rarely left the landing where they gathered numbweed.

Virika was troubled, but not greatly. The farewells her parents had given her had told her that they did not like her to leave again, especially so soon. "I'll be with friends this time. They'll keep my feet from wandering far," she had told them cheerfully. There was truth in what the harper said she thought, smiling wryly; that you didn't know what you had until you lost it. And also that when you found it again that it was all the dearer for the time lost.

When the four began nearing the dragon-folk's home they saw Kilatch, lazing on the rock. The queen started when the horses neighed, and leapt off the rock. She saw Virika and smiled as the girl waved enthusiastically; it was strange, but she felt more glad to see the mother of her dragon-person friend than she had been to see her blood-mother. It was as if she was coming home and had only now realized it.

When Kilatch gave her a hug she was startled, but hugged her back. She had not quite known that the queen liked her, though, now she thought back, she had never shown any dislike or even cool neutrality towards her.

Suddenly Kilatch stiffened, hissed softly but menacingly and raised her wings angrily. Virika turned, and saw that Sofreteh had halted her mare in her tracks and was staring back at Kilatch as the queen glared at her.

"She's a friend, Kilatch! Don't worry. Would I ever bring any one here who would harm you?" Virika hastened to make peace between the two. Indeed, she and her two friends had been extraordinarily careful- they had only picked girls who had shown they could keep secrets when it was wise and tell them when they were harmful. Sofreteh was also able to remain calm even when she was shocked, injured, faced with extraordinary decisions or harm and was one of Darrinel's friends; it was he who had suggested her as a candidate for Impressing the new queen.

"We thought that, if I could help Hayatch in her flight, maybe other girls –Sofreteh, namely, – could help other queens. There would be more queens with human friends they had Impressed, and more large clutches with more queens to Impress, and so on. We thought that it would be best if I wasn't the only girl to Impress, and we think that Sofreteh would have a very good chance; she's even got two fire lizards!"

As if to prove their owner's worthiness two fire lizards, one brown, Nurmin, and a blue, Dimonof, crawled out of one of the girl's saddlebags and settled on her shoulders. When Softreteh looked at them, they shuffled their wings and sat up straighter.

"So that's what you meant," the girl murmured, though only Darrinel heard. "_Very_ large fire lizards. And Impressionable, too? Quite interesting. Quite useful. Quite… _valuable_."

"Very valuable indeed," he replied smoothly.

000

Cameratch had been flown by Mreeatch some sevendays ago. A little over two months before Virika had left she had laid her clutch; unlike Igatch she had a queen egg to boast of. It was a fine year for the dragon-folk; they already had two young queens who had not yet flown on their first mating flight and now a third was laid; hopefully to be Impressed by Sofreteh.

Cameratch, always one of the sweeter dragon-folk, had seen no reason to refuse Darrinel the chance to Impress one of her children, and so they settled in to wait until the clutch would hatch- within the next two sevendays. Vyrania, Sofreteh and Darrinel strayed away from the dragon-people's little settlement most of the time, but Virika stayed close, as she had before her sister and Eleneir had discovered her friends. Hayatch and she stuck close to home and to each other; it had been harder than either had thought it could be to separate. Their very souls seemed shredded.

In the late afternoon on the tenth day after Virika and Hayatch's return the hatching began. Many dragon-folk (all of Hayatch's clutch and several others including all the golds and bronzes) gathered, humming, to great the little ones. In the middle of the clutch of six eggs crouched Sofreteh and Darrinel. Virika and Vyrania held crudely woven containers of meat for the hatchlings that their brother and brother's friend were to try and Impress.

When the first shell cracked the humming stopped. All at once two others split to reveal one bronze hatchling and one green, and then first to crack shuddered and fell wide open to show a brown. Of course Darrinel went straight for the bronze. In one hand he scooped him up swiftly but gently and with the other he took the meat from Vyrania. Sitting down on the rock that partially sheltered the clutch he proceeded to stuff the little creature as full as possible. Glitter winged above them, hissing as the sun shone on her slender green form.

Sofreteh's fire lizards were sitting on the rock's highest point, chirping to each other. Their mistress was looking around frantically, and when she spotted the queen finally hatch she made for the little golden creature so hastily that she tripped and fell, narrowly missing the one egg that had yet to hatch. A little green came up to her and crooned encouragingly.

The girl stared at the green, so much more like a dragon or a fire lizard than the adults of her kind. "I'm all right. Didn't even bruise myself."

"Oh, dear! Oh, no…" she moaned, sitting on her knees in the sand. When the little green squeaked at her she lifted her hands from her face. "It wasn't supposed to- the queen! I wanted to Impress the queen, not a green!"

"I think that the queen in quite taken care of," Darrinel said, an odd note in his voice. Vyrania stooped by the queen, a shocked but tentatively loving smile on her face as she fed young Urtiatch the meat she had been holding for Sofreteh.

Vyrania raced back to the food storage cave and pulled down fresh meat for the green. She met Darrinel half way back, a gloomy expression on his face. He had no bronze, blue or any color dragon-person with him. "Why couldn't I Impress? Vyrania got a queen like you and Sofreteh got her green, so why not me? Do they just not like boys?" His voice was bitter; his sister could see that he really had wanted to Impress and was deeply disappointed with his loss.

"There'll be other hatchings," she consoled Darrinel, patting his shoulder comfortingly. Virika didn't try to read the expression on her brother's face, instead trying to balance the meat for the new hatchling. If she had she might have been startled at the hard anger and revenging glint in his cold eyes.


	9. Missing

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Nine: _Missing_

Had Virika stayed up to watch the moons rise she might have heard the quiet conversation between Darrinel and Sofreteh that took place on the rock near the dip in the sand that she called the Hatching Hollow. Her brother was the first to arrive, and then his friend.

"I didn't manage to Impress him. He wouldn't let me." The contained, cool anger in Darrinel's voice was startling to Sofreteh.

"They perhaps need to learn that you won't accept that kind of disregard. They perhaps should be taught that they are mere animals when compared to our technology," suggested the girl quietly. Then she laughed to herself. Had anyone been watching and listening they would have shuddered to hear it. "The stupid beasts," she said scornfully. "They didn't even realize I didn't know hat stupid green's name. I never Impressed her at all." Her voice took on an apologetic note. "I should have let you know what to do. I should have told you to pretend you had Impressed that bronze even if you didn't. I'm sorry."

"It's all right." He remained silent for a time. "Though…" he said at last, "perhaps it is not too late to have one of the older ones either."

"What do you mean? They are too old to Impress," Sofreteh protested breathlessly.

"Who ever said anything about Impressing?" asked Darrinel. "I said _have_. Like Eleneir has his runnerbeasts. You do not need to Impress a runnerbeast to _own_ it, do you? You dominate it. And it is yours."

"I think I would like to have one of these- these beasts," she said slowly. "Of course, there are some wild runnerbeasts that you must break the spirit of before you can ride them."

"And they are yours forever after," replied Darrinel.

They grinned out at the beach and the ocean; a watcher would have shuddered at that grin. In the moonlight the ocean looked like a silver mirror, and the sand like grains of silver. Their beauty was lost on Darrinel and Sofreteh's cold hearts.

000

Virika's night was full of disturbing dreams.

She lay on the ground, and the world was huge and frightening around her. Her green wings covered her. The human beside her sat up and left. She cringed from the human; it was the scary possessive girl who had grabbed her and taken her away from her people with thoughts of _owning_ her. Owning. Like a piece of jewelry for a human.

Virika's dream changed.

Now she roosted in the tree closest to the Hatching Hollow rock. There were two people there, talking quietly and disturbing her rest. They laughed eerily, frighteningly. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was not friendly. She shifted her wings to a more comfortable position on her back and waited until they left. Below her she could hear the thoughts of the lovely small dragons.

They were nice, but these new people, the ones who had been talking beneath her tree were human and not nice. Only one human she knew of was nice; the girl who was a friend of the queen who slept in the opening above the cavern with meat in it.

Vaguely she drifted, not awake yet not quite asleep and touched another dream-vision.

Something was wrong. It was not blaring as the scream of the felines before they attacked, but subtle, like the silent hiss of anticipation in a snake before it struck. When she checked there was nothing near the cave-hole she lay in to be of any threat, but she felt it.

Plots were being born tonight. Somewhere, somehow, something as deadly as a feline, as silent as a tunnelsnake and as hidden as the sea in the fog was out there. And gloated over the chance for fulfilled greed it felt.

000

When she awoke Virika recalled only that she had slept badly. Hayatch told her that she had spent some hours tossing and turning and nearly rolling them both out of the little cave-room, and muttering. The young queen reported feeling something wicked and full of malice and greed somewhere, though she could not say where or what it was.

Later in the day, feeling restless, Virika wandered down the beach, in the opposite direction from the camp, and sat by a stream she had discovered several months earlier. Taking off the new boots her family had given her when she visited she settled her feet in the cool water and leaned back against a boulder. When she opened her eyes to the sound of someone calling her name, shielding them from the sun, she found Hayatch sitting on the rock above her, looking down at her. Next to the queen were Vyrania and the young queen she had Impressed, Urtiatch. All three looked as though they had been racing to find her; Vyrania was sweating and all three were breathing hard.

"I can't find them or their horses- none of us can remember seeing them since the early morning," gasped Vyrania. Virika looked up at her, still feeling tired and lazy from the warm day.

"Find who?" she asked, and yawned.

"Sofreteh and Darrinel. And Sofreteh's green friend is gone also. Where are they? Can you tell us where to look? You know all the good places around here; maybe they found one of them. It's at least worth a try."

Vyrania coughed as she finished, and her older sister reached up to pat her on the back. When her spasm ended Virika stood and stretched. "Honestly I wouldn't worry about it; I think they _liked_ each other. Give them time." At the look on the younger girl's face she added slightly irritably, "Oh, all right. If it means so much to you I'll help you look."

000

After a long search proving only that two horses with riders had gone in the general direction of the ships Virika and the others abandoned the search. "I still say they just wanted to be alone," she told her queen, her sister and her sister's queen.

"But why take her green- and that's another thing. She never said the green's name." Exhausted, Virika glared at her sister.

"Darrinel and Sofreteh'll come back. You'll see- I'd bet you fifty marks. Well," she amended with a laughing snort, "if I had any I would."

She would have lost. In the morning there was no sign of the two wayward humans of their runnerbeasts. Trying to keep Vyrania from fretting over their brother and friend she distracted the younger girl with various games, sometimes with dragon-folk, sometimes without.

It was when the second day dawned she began to feel worried for the missing pair. Even more so because she knew they had one of the dragon-folk with them, and had gone in the direction of the others.

Later, when they had been gone for two nights and nearing three days, Kilatch, Satch, Virika and Hayatch agreed to arrange a search party. Besides Hayatch and Satch themselves two other dragon-folk, Mreeatch, the green's father, and blue Fuperatch volunteered. After bidding fare well to whomever, a golden queen, two bronzes and a blue took off.

Virika remained in contact with Hayatch for a while, but it was harder than she had expected to keep their minds together without speaking. She supposed that it would have been the equivalent of locking eyes with her queen and only mouthing the word she wished to say as Hayatch stretched farther away.

The pair eventually let it drop, and Virika had to trust in the wingsped queen to find her brother and bring him and Sofreteh back. And the young green. Oh, most especially the little green.


	10. Battle

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Ten: _Battle_

The pair had pushed their horses to their limits all day, and had gained the tents before the moons had risen. After regrouping and leaving the runnerbeasts to be groomed Sofreteh and Darrinel had sought out certain wealthy persons they knew to collect rare items be they inanimate objects or live creatures.

First they found a man who was simply called Ragged. He agreed to meet them in the forest when they hinted that certain valuable animals could be had.

Farther into the night, in ones and twos several select people trickled into the forest. When the other dozen or so people were gathered Darrinel and Sofreteh explained whey they had been called together.

Down the beach, about a day's hard ride, was a cove. In this cove, said Darrinel and Sofreteh, was a clan of nearly-dragon creatures, save that they walked on two legs and could speak the human tongue. The pair had been called on false pretexts to the dragon-creatures, thinking that they were to help a gentle, kind race. This was not the case, they said.

When they had arrived savage monsters had tied them in, and they had eaten even Virika, betraying the girl who had brought them food. Vyrania had been killed, and her body had washed out to sea, they said. Somehow they had escaped, and had fled.

At this point Sofreteh dragged her little green prisoner, wings shackled shut, a cloth over her mouth, her hands bound before her and a collar and chain around her neck, out from behind a tree. This savage monster, she told the audience, was one of many larger ones. But the small ones… the small ones were young. And like any animal, the young could be taken and either used in tasks human had to labor at, or, like ornamental animals, put in cages and admired.

One of the men got up, and asked how large the dragon-animals grew. If they grew the size of true dragons there could be some problems keeping the contained when they grew older. Sofreteh held her hand up to about the top of one of the dragon-creature's heads; rather above her own but hugely smaller than a true dragon's.

She and Darrinel got the men to agree to find others and to come exterminate the older mosters and take the young ones back to be trained or caged. In the morning they would march to the dragon-monsters and hunt them.

Just as they were about to leave one of the men raised his hand. When Darrinel nodded to go ahead he asked if the green was already taken, and if he might have her for a few marks. When the two asked for three marks he paid and took the leash around the greens neck in his hand, dragging her roughly after him as the gathering broke up.

000

Hayatch was the first to spot the small army, and she screeched her fury to see armed men riding against her home. But her heat was in pain for she saw that leading the men were Darrinel and Sofreteh. With unspoken consent, knowing that these men were coming to harm their people, the four dragon-people dove from the sky at their attackers.

Mreeatch scored the first wound, raking his tail so that it knocked two men from their saddles at once. The few runnerbeasts reared and plunged, some throwing their riders. Backing higher into the sky Kilatch sent her people the images of the men, the fight they were in, how close they were to their home.

Reinforcements were on the way within seconds; gold, bronze and brown while greens and blues stayed as a last defense for their hatchlings, their future.

Throughout the afternoon the battle raged. All thought that it would bee a swift fight in their favor, but it was long. For a while the dragon-folk gained the upper hand, until the bows and arrows were brought out. It was no longer safe to fly in the late evening sky, but as the shadows grew it was again in the dragon-folks' favor to fly and strike from above as the humans' vision was hampered in the darkness. Once more the humans gained an advantage by lighting torches, which not only shredded the darkness but were also used to light some arrows and even as close-range weaponry when the dragon-folk flew too low.

Ever and again one group found something to hold dominance over the other fighters' ranks, and ever something new was found. With their numbers dwindling, both sides were filled with an odd battle-fever. Sorrow for lost comrades and friends, anger, thoughts of revenge, bone-deep weariness and battle-adrenaline filled each heart and mind as the night wore one in blood.

000

Vyrania and Virika stayed with the hatchlings, comforting them. Virika watched the battle through Hayatch's eyes, and knew that Vyrania did the same. Both kept the thoughts of battle and blood from their charges.

It was a long battle, but finally the humans backed off, leaving their dead. When it was just getting light the remaining dragon-folk returned, bearing their dead with them and leaving the human dead. Among the still form that now were buried was a queen, Cameratch , and greens, browns, bronzes and blues. Though none knew how or when, not even the bodies of Kilatch and Satch could be found.

Hayatch keened bitterly for her parents, as did Virika, though they contained themselves with the others. Vyrania mourned with them in private, remembering how the queen had helped her find her feel welcome with the dragon-people.

Throughout the long day the queen and the two human girls kept a silent vigil along with the survivors. Long they wept silently, bitterly. At last, when the sun was setting, they were laid to rest in the forests they had loved.

000

One human lifted his sword, aiming for Satch's neck. "No!" cried Kilatch, and dove. She fell beside him in the flickering torchlight and stared up at the man. Satch was her mate, her love, and if this man wanted to kill him then he would have to kill Kilatch too.

The queen closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around the bronze and spread one fragile gold wing over him as if that could protect him. She felt tears run down her face as she buried her face in his shoulder, and waited for the man to strike. The sounds of the battle, from the beach a little away from the forest where she lay, drifted to her.

He didn't strike. She waited. The man didn't strike.

Finally she opened her eyes and looked up at the man from where she and Satch lay on the ground. The man didn't strike. He lowered his sword, and stared at the queen as she clung to her mate.

"No- Kilatch!" her bronze cried. Another human raced up from beside the first and raise his spear to drive it through the queen's chest. Satch flung her away from the spear as it stuck in the ground where she had been. The blade grazed his arm, and she cried out, springing to her feet.

The first man grabbed the arm of the second one and whispered in his ear urgently, then looked back at Kilatch who was pressing her hand to Satch's arm, trying the stop the flow of blood as she gazed up at the humans. At last the second one, the larger one, nodded, and gripped his spear again.

Kilatch held her mate's arm and closed her eyes, waiting for the spear to bite her. She would not run away. If it was Satch's time then it was hers as well. She would not be separated from him.

The thrust never came.

When she looked again the spear was leveled at the two dragon-people and the men were standing next to them. She waited.

Finally the smaller man took something out of the pouch at his belt. He knotted a loop in the end of the rope. With a speed she wouldn't have guessed he possessed he leaned down and slipped it over Satch's head and tightened the knot. Kilatch growled and lunged for the rope, but the spear was leveled at her neck and she stopped, staring up at the man with horror as he took a second piece of rope ads suddenly tied it around her neck.

Satch's captor gave the rope around Kilatch's neck to the bigger man, who took it and pulled, yanking the queen's neck. He pulled her to her feet as the smaller man did the same to her mate.

The bronze and the gold exchanged looks. Then the two men started to pull them in different directions. "No!" they both cried, and Kilatch lunged for Sarch with one hand out stretched. The rope around her neck caught her back, and her bronzes did the same. Hissing she whirled and the spear was put at her throat once more.


	11. Ropes

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Eleven: _Ropes_

Satch and Kilatch fought the ropes, frying to get their fingers under them, but the humans only pulled them tighter. When they tried to attack their captors the men put their cold metal at their throats. As the bronze was dragged away, still fighting, Kilatch called desperately to the human who held him. "What are you doing to him? Leave us a lone!" She turned on the man holding her rope. "Let go!" she screeched and launched herself back at Satch. The men tugged their ropes and they fell to the forest floor.

Kilatch took a few long, steady breaths, then sat up. Her rope was trailing on the ground, and the humans were staring at her and Satch in amazement. She flung herself as her mate and clung to him as fiercely as he did her. "Are you all right?" she asked desperately, and he nodded, never taking her eyes, which burned with anger, from the humans.

The two men stood watching them. Satch and Kilatch folded their wings around them, and waited. Kilatch finally raised her hand to the rope and began tugging the choking thing off, and her mate did the same. The humans lunged at the ropes as if some great prize was attached to them and gave them a yank. Kilatch gasped, and felt the rope at her throat again with a hand. "No! Stop!" she cried, felling them being torn apart again. "Please," she whispered as the rope tugged her away.

The men stopped pulling as the dragon-people sat up and reached one hand towards each other. The humans seemed to be discussing them, for they came together and spoke quietly with many glances at the queen and her mate. The ropes eased enough for them to breath, and they came together once more.

Kilatch and Satch looked up at the men, then back at each other. "I think," said Kilatch softly "that they mean to take us away. I don't think we will find each other again."

"No," Satch told her, holding her close, "no. We shall find each other, and we will be together again." Kilatch felt tears run down her face as she hugged her mate close.

"But farewell… for now, Kilatch," whispered Satch in her ear as the humans tugged them apart again.

"Until we meet again, Satch," she replied, and stood up straight and proud as she was lead away. Her bronze watched her go until the human pulled so hard that he had to come or risk choking and never seeing his queen gain.

Kilatch turned once more to see her mate a last time, then the forest closed around her and the man tugged her again.

"We will be together again," she whispered to herself. "Whenever it is, we will be together again."

Not long after the man stopped and beckoned for her to come closer. Kilatch regarded him warily, then took one step nearer. He stepped at her and she backed away. When he tugged the rope and she gasped she stood her ground. The man took the rope and wound it around her wrists, binding the securely. As soon as she realized what he was doing she fought, trying to yank her hands away, but he tied them tightly none the less.

"What is it you want from me, human?" she asked in a whisper. "I have nothing your kind values, so why is it you want me to come with you?"

The man stared at her for a long moment. It was strange, but she was short enough to look him in the eye. "You," he said at last. "Many of my people prize rare animals as pets or decorations in their homes. That's you. And your friend to."

Kilatch recoiled and gasped. "Living things? You keep living things as- _decorations_?" she asked in horror. "And you wish me to be one of them? But I do not wish to be one!"

"That does not matter," the man said, shrugging and starting off again. "All that matters is that the man I sell you to wishes it."

Kilatch stayed still as he tugged her rope again, until her hands were stretched out on a line and her neck was sore. "I do not wish to go with you. This is talk of owning me. I do not like it at all!" she said shrilly. The rope pulled so hard that she gasped and stumbled a few steps after the man. "Stop! Please!" she cried. Kilatch began to weep again, thinking of a life behind bars.

Finally she dashed at the man, trying to make him let her rope go, but he swung his spear at her and it connected solidly with the side of her head. Kilatch cried out and stumbled to her knees, gasping. The world went black as she fell to the forest floor.

000

Virika, Vyrania, Urtiatch and Hayatch returned to the stream Virika had found and sat there for some hours that night after they had buried the dead. The night passed slowly. When the first light of dawn filtered down through the trees it woke three of them, but Hayatch still sat on the rock, meditating as she stared in to the clear stream.

"I do not think that my parents are dead," she told the humans and Urtiatch. "Their bodies-" she choked, then started again "their bodies would have been found. I want to search for them, if only to find proof of their fate, one way or another."

The humans looked at each other. "We'll come with you," Virika said, and Vyrania nodded. All four got to their feet and started back the way they had come.

Because Virika and her sister could not fly it was a longer trip for the small party than it would have been had they had wings also. Hayatch flew just above them, carrying Utriatch. The younger queen had refused to be separated from Vyrania, and Vyrania had refused to be left behind. When they neared the beach where the battle had taken place Hayatch dropped down to walk the rest of the way with them.

They emerged from the forest to find that humans were busy clearing their dead away. Hayatch stopped short and growled deep in her throat, the battle-light coming into her eyes again. Virika put a cautioning hand on her arm, and the queen grumbled, but stopped.

"Let me go talk to them. I might know one of them, and maybe we can make peace," suggested Virika. Without waiting for an answer she stepped out of the forest. The humans turned to face her.

"I want only to know if you have found two of the dragon-folk's bodies. There would have been one bronze and a gold," she told them.

"None of those monsters," one of the men said and spat on the ground.

"Monsters?" asked Virika in horror. "What do you think they do to be called monsters? They only attacked you because it was obvious you were coming to kill them!" She glared at the men. "I am looking for Kilatch and Satch's bodies, or themselves. They were dear to my heart and I wish to know where they are, if only to know they are truly dead."

She turned and froze. Hayatch was making her way out of the forest. "What are you doing?" cried Virika, casting a frightened look over her shoulder as she dashed to the queen. Her friend looked down at her, then back at the humans. "They'll shoot you full of arrows!" Indeed several men already had bows in their hands. "Get out of here!" She pulled one of Hayatch's arms, but the queen shook her off, still looking at the humans.

Hayatch continued to walk slowly, purposefully toward the men, despite all Virika could do to turn her back. When she was within arms' reach of the nearest bowmen she reached down and pressed the arrow that was pointed at her away. "I do not come for a fight." At her word the men looked at each other, clearly startled. "Lower your weapons, please. I do not intend to harm any of you."

Then she settled to the sands as cool as anything, folding her hands on her knees. Behind the archer in front of her a man took something out of his pocket and shielded it from her sight. Virika, feeling dead white took hold of the queens arm and sat next to her.

"Please. I wish only to know whether my mother and father survived." Hayatch spoke softly, and the men lowered their weapons. Virika noticed that one man was doing something with something he had in his hands behind another's back.

"We ain't seen none of your kind here, monster." Hayatch started to growl at the mention of 'monster', but held herse4lf in check. "All of your kind took 'em away, prob'ly to eat 'em."

"We do not eat our dead. We lay them to rest under the earth," corrected Hayatch. She stood and turned, intending to make for the forest. Vyrania and Urtiatch stepped to the edge of the trees and the girl picked up her queen.

Suddenly, in a burst of movement, the man who had been doing something behind his friend's back stood and hurled a rope around Hayatch's torso and wings, pinning them to her sides. With a heave on his part, Hayatch screeched and toppled to the ground. The man darted out and put a knife at her throat.


	12. Chains

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Twelve: _Chains_

Virika stared at the man in horror, then leapt at him, intending to knock in over. He pressed the knife hard enough against Hayatch's neck to make a tiny cut, and Virika stopped short. "What do you want?" she demanded, he voice quavering slightly.

"Bring that younger one here," he said, jerking his head at Urtiatch. Vyrania and her queen approached warily. He called up two more men, and they took hold of the younger queen. When Vyrania protested the man pressed the knife harder to Hayatch's throat and drew blood again.

The men bound Urtiatch at the wrists and tied her wings to her sides, then put a leather collar around her neck with a chain on it. Vyrania cried out, seemingly torn between her queen and her sister's. "Be still, Hayatch," the younger said, and smiled shakily at her. "It is better for me to be tied than for you to be dead." But when the men turned to the older queen and began shackling her wings both started to struggle.

"You will look quite nice in cages," the man said, grinning without humor at them.

"Cages?" exclaimed Hayatch, fighting now that the knife had been taken away, but the ropes and chains held her fast.

"Let them go!" cried Virika, launching herself once more at the man, but the other two grabbed her arms. Vyrania, too, grabbed at the man, but two more swarmed her. One clapped a rag against her mouth and nose; it was soaked in something that made her collapse, seemingly asleep. Another man did the same to Virika. As she collapsed the last thing she saw was Hayatch struggling wildly to get to her.

_I'm sorry,_ the queen told her mind-to-mind, _I'm so sorry..._

000

Kilatch awoke in a small room, apparently inside a human dwelling, for the stones that firmed its sides and floor were irregular blocks and the ceiling was a slab of rock. She tried to move, but found that her hands were chained together and shackled to a ring in the wall. Her wings were bound as well, and she found that her head hurt too much to do anything besides sit.

After a while, when the throbbing eased, she cautiously looked around. The first thing she saw was the iron door against the far wall. She sat a little straighter, and saw that she was alone in the small room, and that a window was filtering light down from above her. Kilatch coughed, and continued until she was shaking and weak from the spasms.

A human had touched her brow and she jerked away. Something, a bowl or cup of clay of some kind touched her lips and she drank between coughs. Finally they eased, and she looked up at the young woman who presented the bowl. "Where-" she coughed, and tried again, but she was to weak.

"I do believe the poor thing's trying to imitate our speech," the woman said, addressing this remark to the man who held the door for her. "Rest now," she told the queen, and stood. As if Kilatch could do anything besides rest! She drifted into uneasy sleep.

When she woke again it seemed earlier in the day, judging by the light from the window. She must have slept a day and a night already. Kilatch moved her arms, shifting them to a more comfortable position and found that she could move without any pain from her head. She also found that the chain from her wrists to the wall was replaced by a leather cuff on each wrist connected by a short chain.

Kilatch looked around again, then carefully stood up. She was shaky on her feet, but she could stand. And she was very hungry. "Hello?" she called in the direction of the door. Now she saw that in a corner a mattress had been set. She made her stumbling way towards it and sat on it. Her wings were sore and heavy from the ropes. Kilatch settled against the wall to wait.

Not long after the sounds of the door being pushed open roused her from a half-trance state. She looked and found that the same woman who had given her something to drink earlier was carrying a tray with food on it. The woman set the tray near Kilatch and backed away towards the door. She looked through the door and nodded. "Where am I?" the queen asked her as the door swung open again. Her voice was little more than a croak.

The woman froze, then turned swiftly. "Where am I? And what am I doing here?" repeated Kilatch, and broke into a few hacking coughs.

"You speak our tongue?" the woman asked, amazed. "How?"

Kilatch shrugged and smiled a little sadly. "How do you?" she asked. The woman smiled back at her shakily.

"They old us you were no more than fancy animals," she said. Kilatch sat up straighter, a little ruffled at being called an animal. "I didn't really believe _animals_ was right, but something like a strange watch-wher, maybe."

"Watch-wher? What's a watch-wher? Is it like a dragon, for if so then I suppose you could call my people that, but if it is more like fire lizard or an animal then you could not. My people are relatives of the dragons, very distantly, so I think you could say we are alike." The woman still stared.

"No, you are not like watch-whers at all," she said softly.

"So just what is a watch-" she broke off, coughing again. The woman took something from just outside the door. She gave Kilatch a drink like the one from the day before and the coughs eased again.

"Rest again is best. I'm-" she hesitated, then went on. "I'm Virisail."

Kilatch gasped. "VIrika's mother?" she asked. "You are mother to Virika and Darrinel and Vyrania?"

"You know them? Are they safe?" The woman grabbed Kilatch's arm and clung to her, eyes wide.

"They were safe when I left," the queen comforted her. "They are good friends to my people, Vyrania and Virika." Her face darkened in rage. "But Darrinel is not. Darrinel is one, with Sofreteh, who led the men against my people. There are few enough of us to defend ourselves against normal dangers, and we queens are not rising as often as we should. There are two few of us and we do not have many eggs…" her voice grew softer, gentler, and she trailed off.

"What is your name?" asked Virisail. The queen shook her head, ridding herself of the memories.

"Kilatch." She looked down at the woman's hands on her arm and pulled away. Virisail let go.

"Eat first, then rest, Kilatch." Virisail gestured to the food as she left the room. "There will be little enough rest for you soon…" Her voice trailed off sadly, indecisively as the door closed behind her.

000

Hayatch and Urtiatch watched as their human friends were taken away in a cart. The cart they were in started in a different direction from the one Vyrania and Virika were taking.

The men kept them from escaping by any means necessary except fatal blows, and eventually the two queens huddled together away from them. Hayatch bore several bruises and a long, thing cut down her neck and shoulder. Urtiatch had escaped most harm, but both had bruises around their necks from the collars and chains.

Eventually Hayatch made one leap for freedom to many and the men doused them with the same kind of liquid-soaked rags they had the human prisoners.

Later they woke in a stone room, with shacked wings and wrists. Hayatch turned over and a hand pressed her cheek. "It is time you woke. You nearly had poor Kilatch frantic with worry."


	13. Rescue

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Thirteen: _Rescue_

Hayatch, Urtiatch and Kilatch were herded down the passageway just outside of the tiny room they had been cramped up in. When they were thrust into a larger room they found that Satch was already here.

Kilatch threw herself at her mate, and the clung to each other. "I told you we'd see each other again," the bronze told his queen with a slight chuckle, "but I didn't mean quite like this."

Hayatch greeted her father too, and they sat down to talk. Satch told that he had been knocked over the head and dragged down here also, and had woken the night before. Then Kilatch told her story, then Hayatch and Urtiatch.

The day passed slowly. Food was brought, and they ate, then rested again. It was all they could do.

Kilatch woke the other two queens and her bronze with a coughing fit. She huddled on her bed, shaking and hacking coughs. Virisail brought food for them and another drink of her cough-away drink, but Kilatch seemed too had developed a fever. Hayatch and Stach stayed by her bed all that day. She never ate or drank, but coughed.

In her fevered dreams she cried out to fly free again. Her pleadings all but broke the others' hearts, and when Virisail looked in again they begged her to take the queen outside, just once.

There was little the woman could do, save ask the man in charge of the room to let them out. She begged too, having become quite fond of the queen in the short time they had spent together.

000

Virika and Vyrania woke in their own home, in their own room. They looked at each other, then got out of bed. Both collapsed back, gasping. Their mother came in. "What are you doing? Rest, both of you. You've been asleep for two days and nights. Rest is what you need from all you're time out there in the wilds." She pushed her daughter back in bed and brought them soups and drinks.

They kept trying to tell her about the dragon-folk, but she always sad "Rest. Later." They often heard her go out. After the second time they started timing it. It took about fifteen minutes. On the fourth time, near nightfall, they slipped out and followed her outside.

On the beach Virika suddenly put out her hand to stop her younger sister. "Try to contact Urtiatch," she said. "I can't believe I didn't think of it before!" Vyrania gaped at her for a second, then laughed.

"I've Impressed her and I still can't ever remember to speak mind-to-mind, not out loud!" Both closed their eyes and called to their queens.

_Hayatch?_

_Urtiatch?_

_It's us! Are you all right?_

_Virika?_

_Vyrania?_

_Oh, you're both safe!_

_Are you both well?_

_Where are you?_

_Can you find us? We're in a human house, but we don't know exactly where._

_We'll find you._

_Don't worry! We'll look all over._

_We found Kilatch and Satch, but mother has a fever and she's coughing and sleeping._

_She's really not good. I don't know what happened to her, but she doesn't wake up._

_We'll find you, all four of you, and we'll get out of here._

The girl left opened their eyes, looked once at each other and dashed back as fast as they could to the camp.

000

Hayatch sat with her mother, whispering over and over again variations of "oh, hurry, Virika!" and "hold on, Mother. It'll be all right."

When Urtiatch gasped she spun quickly, but to her delight Virika and Vyrania were crouching at the small barred window.

"Hayatch, Urtiatch, Satch Kilatch! You're all fine!"

"Yes, but mother's… bad. I don't know what's wrong with her, but she's sleeping and she doesn't wake."

"Later," Virika said, setting her mouth in a grim line. Her face disappeared. Vyrania reached one arm through the bars and Urtiatch took it.

"You're fine?" she asked.

"Yes. Hayatch has been taking good care of me, and we've all been trying to help Kilatch."

Vyrania nodded to her sister's queen in thanks then stood as well, following her sister.

Virika walked around to the building's entrance. Somehow Vyrania expected her to knock. Later she told herself that it was stupid to believe they would hand over the dragon-people. Now she watched in fascinated horror as her sister coldly walked up to the door and kicked out, slamming it open, sending splinters of wood all around.

The two men playing dice on the floor stood, and she walked calmly into the house. "You kidnapped my queen, her parents and my sister's queen." She squared her feet and stood braced as coolly as if she had just asked for a bubbly pie, but her body was ridged. Vyrania came up behind her and stood at her side, trying to look as menacing as her sister.

"They are down in you're cellar. We want them." At this statement the guards looked at her slight, lanky figure and laughed. In a sudden bound she leapt into the air and came down kicking the first man's chin, sending him sprawling. When the second turned and unsheathed his sword, starting to frown she dove under his swing, somersaulted beneath the blade and sprang up, hitting him in the belly and landing there in a crouch as he fell over with a wild cry.

Vyrania saw the first man stand with his sword and lunged, swinging her fist so that it hit him solidly over the head. He swung his sword at her and she ducked. Then Virika was there and she swung her leg as his ankles, knocking him over. Then she leapt forward and landed on his stomach like she had his friend.

Virika stood and delicately settled her hair out of her face, then nodded to her sister and jerked her head at the stairway through an open door.

They found one other guard, standing beside a door they assumed to be the prisoners' cell. With a cry Virika dashed at him. Before he could react she had sprung forward and landed on her hands, then fell on his chest as she had the other guards, neatly winding him.

"I learned that from the dragon-folk," she said to no one in particular as she kicked out, knocking the man _between_.

Vyrania looked at her sister for a long moment. Virika had changed. She was not the shy one without any friends, getting picked on all the time. Now she had learned unarmed combat from seven-foot dragons and was rearranging the structure of their lives.

She was harder, not consciously, perhaps, but she was different. Vyrania decided not to judge her sister. The change was for the better, she was sure.

Virika tried to open the door and found it locked. Vyrania knelt to take the keys from the unconscious man's belt. As she straightened up Virika kicked out and slammed the door. When it creaked but held she glared at it, then backed up as far as the narrow hallway would permit, clearly about to run at it.

Her sister cramped her style by smoothly unlocking the door. Vyrania smiled as her older sister glared at her. "As impressive as that would have been, let's save your energy to fight the guards who are probably upstairs discovering the busted-open door right now," she suggested. Virika humphed, but shrugged as if she had to agree. Grinning at her the older girl Vyrania followed her inside.


	14. Vengance

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Chapter Fourteen: _Vengeance_

After greeting the three conscious prisoners and unchaining them with the keys from the guard at the door Virika and Vyrania turned toward Kilatch, who hadn't seemed to acknowledge their presence. She merely lay there, shivering in a fevered sleep. "She hasn't woken since the night before yesterday," Satch told them worriedly.

"We tried to get them to let her out, but they wouldn't. I think she would be better for some fresh air," suggested Hayatch, holding her mother's hand.

"Then let's get her out of here," said Virika firmly, motioning for Satch and Urtiatch to help her lift the queen. They made their slow way to the set of stairs, and managed to get up the stairs before they had to set the queen down for a rest. Kilatch only mumbled, her eyes running around behind their lids as she dreamed.

None of them noticed the guards in the darkness until they were encircled and Hayatch's tail brushed one's leg. She screeched and jerked, swinging her tail at the man's knees; at the same time the other three spun to face the other four guards. Vyrania found herself kicking one's shins, seeing briefly out of the corner of her eye that Virika swept the man over. Imitating the leap her sister had used on all four guards now Vyrania jumped onto the man and he collapsed.

Satch fought with two guards; he kicked one man and clawed at the throat of the other. The man he kicked merely fell back, but the other was killed. Virika jumped at the still-living guard and slammed her fist into his nose. They all heard the bone break and he fell to the ground, howling.

On the ground the two other living ones gasped for air; the guards the older human had dealt with before they had rescued the dragon-folk were the dead man and the last to be stunned.

Wordlessly Satch, Hayatch and Virika carried Kilatch out the door and a long ways down the beach before they had to set her down again on a log. Vyrania sat with Urtiatch on her lap, and looked over at the still queen. There didn't seem much they could do for her right now. Perhaps the dragon-folk had herbs they could cure her with? But from what was the question.

Even as they watched Kilatch stilled a little more and sighed. Hayatch and Satch looked at each other, despair in their eyes. "She's not going to make it, is she." Despite a tremor in her voice Virika spoke calmly.

"No," the bronze told her, quiet with deadly certainty.

"Let's bring her to the forest. At least we can be sure no human will ever disturb her again," Vyrania said. The tears came, and she turned away. Virika sat beside her and held her as she cried, weeping as well. The older dragon-people didn't weep, but sat, wings drooping, as if all hope had left. Kilatch took a deep, shuddering breath, coughed, sighed, and was still.

000

They buried Kilatch in the soft ground in the Southern forests underneath a tall tree. As they stood for one last time in her presence a single perfectly light blue flower fell from the brnaches of the tree and settled on the grave. As if the earth itself mourned her, Virika thought sadly. Just as the skies mourned with their somber grays.

Turning, she walked resolutely away from Kilatch's final resting place. She had known the queen for half a Turn, and yet she missed one who was not even her kind more than she missed her own mother. Virika had sworn on Kilatch's blood and her own that she would avenge her death on her brother, if she was to die alongside him.

Vyrania and Urtiatch followed her, then Hayatch and finally Satch. As they strode out of the forest, Virika remembered all that Kilatch had been to her. They left the forest and came out on a bluff overlooking the oceans. For a moment they stood, seeing the frothing glory below them. She turned her eyes to the skies, seeing a single beam of light fall on the waves.

Virika stood proud and tall on the water's edge, just as Kilatch had stood proud, willing to accept change, to accept help when she had Impressed Hayatch. She was different inside. Everything was different. A lone dragon circled far overhead, and a single fire-lizard splashed in the sea.

Taking a deep breath, Virika turned and faced the other four who were waiting for her. There was Satch, a haunted look in his eyes, mourning perhaps the most deeply of them all for Kilatch. To his side was Vyrania, carrying her young Urtiatch. Her dear, dear, sister, and the queen who would help continue the dragon-people's kind.

And there was Hayatch, calmly waiting for her.

She had thought perhaps to return one day to her home with her parents and remaining siblings. But she had seen what her kind was capable of. She would not return to them. Ever.

"I have to find Darrinel. And Sofreteh." They didn't ask why; they had been in the battle. "Then I will return to you."

"Not alone. I will avenge my mother's death with you." Hayatch stood forward and lifted her chin proudly. "I will be strong and know when to bend and when to hold firm. Just like my mother."

"And I also will come. Darrinel has lost the trust of our people, and I intent to tell him so. Most vigorously." A glint of steel showed in Satch's eyes.

"My duty is to Urtiatch, but leave something of Darrinel for me to scream at," added Vyrania grimly.

"Then let's go," said Virika icily, turning back to the ships.

000

The next morning Darrinel's body washed up on shore. He bore only two long claw marks, one on each side of his face.

000

Though few knew of the dragon-folk, in the light of the moon, every now and then, someone swears they can hear the sweep of wings, not large enough to be dragons but to large to be fire-lizards, above them.

And if the one who hears creeps down to the beach ever so silently they might just see a queen and a woman with her, come to visit her first home and remember all that could have been.


End file.
